Spur plate



United States Patent 3,257,134 SPUR PLATE Frank C. Boyd, New Brighton, and William W. Haytluk, Darlington, Pa., assignors to Townsend Company, Beaver Falls, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Oct. 5, 1962, Ser. No. 228,708 2 Claims. (Cl. 287-18935) The present invention is concerned with the attachment of flooring boards to the side sills of railroad cars. Wooden floor boards are employed in such cars for handling certain types of loading and must be replaced at frequent intervals during the life of the remaining car body structure. To facilitate installation and replacement of such floor boards without damage to the car side sills, a special device commonly referred to as a spur plate is bolted to the underside of the flooring and engages beneath the top flange of the side sill to retain the flooring board-in place.

To maintain a tight connection between the flooring boards and the sill, the new method will employ the usage of a new special type spur plate with a commercially available special type bolt called a lock bolt. With the old style spur plate, it is required touse a special machine screw type thread and a nut driven in conventional manner, requiring usually twomen in a crew to accomplish the work.

An object of the new invention is to provide a specially formed spur plate, with an integral collar either formed in it or attached thereto, whereby a device called a lock bolt and gun permanently secures the flooring to the car sill. The lock bolt used comprises a suitably grooved shank, which is driven down through the flooring from above, the spur plate being then slipped up over the bolt end, and the gun engaged to the bolt shank. The gun applies an axial tension load to the bolt shank, drawing the flooring boards into place, then deforming the spur plate attached or integral collar into the bolt locking grooves, and finally breaking off the excess bolt length p the use of only one operator.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method for forming such spur plates.

These and other objects of the invention will be made apparent from the following description and the drawing forming a part thereof, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a fragmentary view through a floor board and a car side sill with the spur plate and lock bolt in applied position; 7

FIG. 2 shows a plan view of one form of the spur plate; 7

FIG. 3 shows a side elevation of FIG. 2 prior to formation of the collar thereon;

FIG. 4 shows a side elevation of the completed spur plate of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 shows a fragmentary side elevation of a modified form of the spur plate of FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawing, particularly FIG. 1, the reference character 1 indicates generally the upper portion of a railroad car side sill comprising a web portion 2 having at the upper end thereof a flange providing a flat upper surface 3 providing support for one end of a floor board 4 and a tapering lower surface 5 engaged by the spur plate 6. The spur plate is retained in engagement withthe board and sill by the lock bolt 7. The car sill 1 is conventionally shown and as is well known in the art may be a rolled metal channel, I-beam or a suitable fabricated member. I

One form of the spur plate 6 is shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawing wherein a fiat rectangular section of metal 8 is preferably provided adjacent one end with 3,257,134 Patented June 21, 1966 a downwardly offset portion 9 to provide the lipportion 10 to be received beneath the surface 5 of the member 1 of FIG. 1. Preferably the portion 10, adjacent its free end, may be of reduced width provided by the converging surfaces 1011. At the opposite end of member 8 is an indentation 11 having outwardly inclined surfaces 12, which, when turned substantially upwardly, provide teeth 13. Adjacent said indentation 11 and extending downwardly from the surface of member 8 is a collar member 14 having a central opening 15 therein extending through the collar and adjacent portion of member 8.

The collar 14 may be formed either integrally with member 8 or separately formed and attached to member 8. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the member 8 initially is pierced to provide a small pilot opening 16'therethrough and thereafter the collar 14 is formed by hot or cold extrusion of the metal from the enlarged opening 15 concentric with opening 16 in a well known manner. When forming the collar by extrusion, the thickness of the spur plate must be such as to provide the required metal to form the collar. By way of example, and not as a limitation, the collar 14 as shown in FIG. 4 having a height of A above the spur plate body portion 8, an CD. of 0.550" to 0.556" and an l.D. of 0.380" to 0.395" may be extruded from a A" to thick plate using a pilot opening 16 of 6"-diameter. An alternate method (FIG. 5) is to preform a separate collar 14b with an enlarged annular portion 17 which is inserted in the recess 18 of member 8a. The portion 17 filling the recess 18 as a press fit or freely received therein and then staked or otherwise secured to portion 8 for retaining the collar in position, for subsequent use. The collar 14b and plate -member 8a being provided with an opening 15a for reception of the lock bolt shank 7.

The herein described spur plate is intended to be used with a suitable type lock bolt of well known construction. The collars 14 and 14b of the spur plates function as the separate collar members used with such lock bolts when applied by a suitable tool, referred to as a gun. The general form of such lock bolts, collars and said gun are illustrated and described in U. S. Patent 2,531,048.

In the use of the spur plate of the invention a suitable bolt shank receiving opening is formed in an end portion of floor board 4, FIG. 1', a lock bolt shank is inserted through said opening with the head of the bolt engaging the upper face of board 4. Thereafter a single workman below the horizontal plane of board 4 inserts the spur plate and collar 14, 14b upon the depending end of the bolt shank with the lip 10 ofthe spur plate engaging the surface 5 of the sill member 1 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The gun is then engaged with the collar 14, or 14b and the depending end of the bolt in the usual manner, whereby the gun exerts a tensile pull on the engaged end of the bolt shank 7 causing the bolt head to clamp against the exposed face of the board 4 and forces the spur plate and collar upwardly against the board 4 providing a tight connection between the board, bolt and spur plate. Thereafter the gun compresses the collar 14, 14b about the usual corrugations or threads of the lock bolt shank disposed within the collar. After the assembly is completed the excess length of lock bolt shank depending below the collar is broken 01f. It will be understood that opposite ends of the board are connected to the adjacent car sills, in a like manner.

The use of a lock bolt in such an environment improves the utility of the spur plate. As the lock bolt shank is placed under tensile stress the bolt head tends to draw down into the adjacent face of the wood and the spur of the spur plate is forced into penetrating engagement with the adjacent face of the board. Thereafter, although the wood of the board may shrink, the spurs of the spur plate remain in engagement with the wood and prevent shifting of the plate even though the wood dries out enough to cause loosening of the joint.

The process of forming 'the spur plate collar by hot or cold extrusion is well known. In the application of such process to the present invention it will sufl'lce to say the collar 14 may be formed before or after the ends of the spur plate are deflected as described, in which case, a die having an opening therein defining the collar will engage the adjacent face of the spur plate 8 and the punch or mandrel will enter the preformed small opening 16 from the opposite face of the spur plate 8.

We claim:

1. In a spur plate for attaching wood flooring members to a metal structure by means of a conventional Huck type lock bolt, in combination,

(a) a rectangular metal body portion having a substantially flat face, a

(b) a pointed upturned portion on one end of said flat face of the body portion,

- (c) a downwardly offset portion extending from the opposite end of said body portion,

(d) a cylindrical deformable metal member fixed on the face of said rectangular metal body portion opposite said flat face thereon and suitable for deformation into a locking collar of a conventional Huck type lock bolt, and

(e) an opening through said cylindrical deformable member and said associated rectangular metal body portion for reception of the stem of the lock bolt.

2. The spur plate as defined in claim 1, wherein said spur plate rectangular metal body portion is of sufiicient thickness to permit the said cylindrical deformable metal portion thereon to be extruded from said body portion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,157,354 5/1939 Sherman 29545 2,234,231 3/1941 Campbell 18935 2,373,901 4/1945 Lowery 29- 545 2,486,723 11/ 1949 Thompson 18935 2,531,048 11/1950 Huck 855 FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner. JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Examiner.

R. A. STENZEL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A SPUR PLAT FOR ATTACHING WOOD FLOORING MEMBERS TO A METAL STRUCTURE BY MEANS OF A CONVENTIONAL HUCK TYPE LOCK BOLT, IN COMBINATION, (A) A RECTANGULAR METAL BODY PORTION HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT FACE, (B) A POINTED UPTURNED PORTION ON ONE END OF SAID FLAT FACE OF THE BODY POTION, (C) A DOWNWARDLY OFFSET PORTION EXTENDING FROM THE OPPOSITE END OF SAID BODY PORTION, (D) A CYLINDRICAL DEFORMABLE METAL MEMBER FIXED ON THE FACE OF SAID RECTANGULAR METAL BODY PORTION OPPOSITE SAID FLAT FACE THEREON AND SUITABLE FOR DEFORMA- 